


Sarcasm, Honesty, and Other Methods of Communication

by BKap



Category: Single Parents (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23772598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BKap/pseuds/BKap
Summary: While in quarantine, Will and Angie finally find their way together.
Relationships: Will Cooper/Angie D'Amato
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Sarcasm, Honesty, and Other Methods of Communication

“Okay, well have fun in MY former home.” Angie said, “Don’t let your pores open too much.”

She hung up the phone and huffed from the barstool where she was sitting. “Lucky.”

“I take it Poppy is quarantining with Douglas?” Will asked from over the counter.

“Yes she is.” she replied, flipping through the snapchats her friend was sending her from her boyfriend’s luxurious home, “They’re in the process of relocating Rory’s wardrobe into the guest house as we speak.”

“She must be devastated that the Winebrary had to close-”

“Ah, she can get over it in a two hundred square foot sauna.”

“So you’re not jealous at all….”

“Meanwhile I’ll be suffering through poorly run boring conference calls on my old stupid laptop on my junky kitchen table.”

Will laughed and poured her some more coffee, “Well some people still have to go to work.”

“I know, who knew weathermen were so essential when theres this app on my phone that tells me the same thing without the green screen and the lame jokes.” she bit her lip.

He playfully rolled his eyes and decided to pass on a rebuttal, “Seriously though, with all the schools closed and clubs cancelled, I don’t know what I’m going to do with Sophie, especially after 8 tonight when we all have to shelter in place and I don’t have you guys for help.”

“If you really loved her, you would’ve sent her to the Foggerty sauna.”

“For real. It would give my daughter healthy skin and give her plenty of entertainment watching Rory and the twins cohabitate.” 

Angie covered her laugh with her hands, “Oh my god, just imagine the pyschological warfare.”

“At least our kids get along.” he commented after the chuckles subsidded.

“Yeah, they really do.” she agreed. She matched Will’s smile and found herself drawn to watching him as he turned around and washed some dishes, “Hey, I have a crazy idea.”

He turned around, “Huh?”

“What if we quarantine with you guys?”

Will frowned, “Like you and Graham stay here?”

“Yeah, I mean, think about it, we’re here all the time anyway. I have to work from home, so I can watch Soph and Graham when you have to go to work, they’ll have each other to play with-”

“-and you can steal all my food and my wifi.”

“It’s a give and take, buddy.” she shrugged.

“Sophie would really like if Graham were here.” he said in their code that they both knew exactly what the other was saying.

“Graham would like to hang out with Sophie too.” she said under nervous eyes.

After getting lost in them for a split second, Will shook himself awake, “Are you sure you don’t mind moving your life over here, I mean, no one really knows how long this is going to last, you might get sick of me.”

“Oh I will get sick of you.” she said, standing up and patting him on the shoulder, “But you have really great wifi.”

____________________

“Alrighty, the crew is finally all here!” Will happily announced as Angie lumbered into the kitchen where Sophie and Graham were already enjoying their breakfast. 

“Morning.” she gave a pathetic wave.

“Here, drink this.” Will handed a cup of coffee towards her, which she happily took.

“Oh you’re the best.” she took in the cup of Will’s coffee (which she would argue was the best coffee in the entire world).

“I’ve gotta run here soon, but I set the kids’ desks up last night so they should be good to log on right at nine.”

Angie looked over to the portion of living room that had been clearly and carefully retro-fitted for a kids learning zone. 

“Woah, someone had some time on their hands last night.”

“Sorry I want our children to succeed in a remote learning environment.”

“This is way better than the cardboard box desk in the front coat closet where I was gonna go to school, huh mom?” Graham said, admiring his new digs.

Will and Sophie both looked at Angie and Graham with horrified looks.

“What? That's where you get the best reception!” she defended herself.

“On that slightly disturbing note I am off to KZOP.” Will announced, “I will be back around two and then I have the ten o clock news tonight too.” 

“Bye dad.” Sophie reached up from her barstool to give her dad a hug.

He kissed the top of her head, “Have a great day sweetie, I love you.” 

Next, Will went over to Graham next, “Alright, G, hold it down for me.”

“Oooh Will, Will!” Graham got an idea, “Since I’ll actually be able to watch the news today can you give me a shoutout?”

Angie pursed her lips at Graham’s cute request and WIll met her eyes with a warm smile. He walked over and shuffled the boys’ hair. “Oh just you wait, buddy, I am going to shout you out so hard.”

“Nice!” they sealed the deal with a fist bump. 

“Alright kids, it’s almost nine, you should go log in.” Angie directed them, to which they obliged. It was then just the two adults in the kitchen. They watched the kids get settled and log in for a moment of comfortable silence between them.

“And you better go, the people of Los Angeles are dying to know if it’s gonna be sunny today.”

“Actually since not many people are going outside, I think I am a little more off the hook than normal-” He then turned to look at her, noticing she had that very snarky smile that meant she was being sarcastic. 

“You’re being sarcastic.” he confirmed.

“What can I say, I’m Sicilian.” Angie shrugged, “Being a Master of the Joking and Sarcastic Arts second nature.”

“You know, I like to think that I’m good at detecting when you’re being serious or not but then again-”

“You’re a good sport about it.” Angie did reveal, “You can take it….but you can’t really dish it, you’re too good of a person.” 

He stood there and chuckled, “I’ll take that as a compliment, although I’m not really sure if that’s how you meant it-” 

“I meannnnnnnnnnnn………”

He exasperatedly put his hands on the counter, “But seriously, our jabs are that one sided?”

“You’re my best friend, Will. I can always tell when you’re messing with me, it’s like a sixth sense.” she enlightened him.

“Fine, but I’ll work on it. Someday I’ll get you.” Will squinted his eyes and looked into her soul, determined as ever.

She walked past him towards the kids in the living room and patted his shoulder condescending, “Good luck, buddy.”

____________________

Later that night, Will carefully opened the door, leaving the dark outdoors for the television-lit living room. In the glow he noticed Angie asleep on the couch surrounded by familiar companions: a pizza box and a beer bottle.

He went into the kitchen and washed the virus-air off his hands as quietly as possible, which stirred Angie, “Hello?”

“Hey.” he whispered, sitting down on the couch next to her, “Sorry I woke you up, I was just washing my hands, didn’t want to infect the poor, innocent pizza.”

She turned to face him with a sweet smile, her eyes were sweetly half-open, half-closed, “KZOP’s own Will Cooper? Am I dreaming?”

Ignoring that jab, he took a seat, “How was your day?” 

“Pretty good actually.” she sat up and stretched her arms out, “The kids did great at school and I managed to avoid real work and play sixty two rounds of solitaire.” 

“Impressive.” Will gave her a high five.

“And I watched you on TV.”

He gave her shocked eyes as he swallowed his pizza, “Really, you did?”

“Yeah, I was looking for something to put me to sleep-”

He rolled his eyes “Ha ha.” 

“No, honestly Will.” she looked at him, tugging his sleeve to get his attention, “It was kinda cool to see you like that, you did a really great job.”

“I’m sorry, you’re whispering so softly, it sounds like you are trying to compliment me.”

“Shut up!” she threw her body weight against his for a playful shove.

Will gave her a sweet smile, “Thanks.”

I just wish I was that passionate or good at something, you know.” 

“Angie, what are you talking about, you’re amazing.” he said, like he was shocked that she believed another other than that statement, “You can do anything.”

“Will,I played sixty two rounds of solitaire today.”

“Well no one else-”

“I’m a lonely, direction-less screw up.’

“No, come on!” he disagreed, “Listen, you had Graham when you were really young and raised him all by yourself. Poppy and I had our ex’s help when we were trying to establish our careers, and Douglas was already the owner of a very large sauna when he had the twins.”

“I guess.”

“You didn’t have any of that, okay, and you raised a kick ass kid.” He assured her, “That does not sound like a screw up to me.”

Angie couldn’t help but smile, “Yeah, I guess Graham is pretty cool.”

“And you’re not alone.” Will put his hand over her shoulder, “You have so many people that care about you. And you have me, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“Will-

“I never told you this,” he kept his voice low and even chuckled a bit to himself as he was remembering the story, “The day we met, I was seriously thinking about moving back home.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I hated LA, I just sat alone at my kitchen and did my boring job, I had no friends, and my dating life was going nowhere, I was miserable. But I took Sophie to school that first day and I met all of you guys and- I remember the first conversation we ever had-”

“Ohhhh the mermaid backpack.” she laughed.

“Not only was that the first time you made fun of me.” he acknowledged, “You changed everything for me that day, my entire outlook on LA. I finally felt accepted and welcomed and like I had a real friend. And ever since you’ve been there for me through all the dating and my new job, and Sophie’s life, everything. So I really feel like I need to give that back to you, to be there whenever you need it.”

She stared at him in awe. It was time.

“Okay, I have to tell you something right now.” she confessed.

“Okay.” he frowned.

“And you have to shut up and listen to me.”

“What?”

“What I am about to say is not just because of all the amazing things you just said.” she began, “This has been inside me for a while, and I’ve never told you and quarantining with you for like one freaking day is all it took, like that last drop of water before everything comes gushing over the edge.”

He headed her command and stared right at her.

“And you have to promise me that you won’t get mad or sad or all weird, okay, because you’re my best friend and I really need to make sure that you’ve got that.”

He nodded.

She took a deep breath. There was no going back. She closed her eyes in a moment of panic, but as soon as she reopened them and looked into her best friends beautiful, loving, gorgeous eyes and instantly felt the weight of the moment disappear. She was ready.

“You know how we always talk about how we’re so good at the dumb stuff, right ? Well, I’ve started to realize that anytime I’m with you everything, even the dumb stuff, also feels like the important stuff too. And lately it’s all been blurring into this, this unreal feeling that I’ve never felt before….and I think it’s love.”

“Like, I love how we can watch ten straight hours of sub-par television together, but I mostly love everything else around it: I love texting you beforehand and scheduling it, and I love just seeing you walk in the door and how excited you are. I love that you bring me a six-pack and a giant turkey leg everytime without me even asking because you know it’ll make me happy, and I love that you always make it a point to go say hi to Graham. I even love the stupidest things, like sitting on the couch next to you, or how you always set the volume to 17, and I love pausing the show randomly to gossip and talk about literally anything." 

"I think about you all the time, and it's crazy, I go out of my way to be around you, like right now I moved into your house for god’s sake. And it’s not just because you’re my best friend...it’s because I’m in love with you.”

His eyes had grown to the size of a galaxy. His mouth was opened slightly as a reflex to respond, but nothing came out.

Angie, like every denied woman before her, went into flight mode, abruptly standing up and patting her knees, “Okay, yep, you know what, yeah, nope, don’t say anything, you don’t have to say anything, pretend like I was just uh-”

Will’s mouth had closed in apparent agreement, “Yeah, you should- you should probably go....” he trailed off, looking the other way, and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

A merciless trail of four letter words zoomed through her head.

Not only did he completely deny her, he wasn’t even acting like Will, he wouldn’t even look at her. She felt a sharp pain in her insides that meant she'd ruined everything.

“I’m just-” she stood in the doorway, “I’m gonna go...uh, Graham’s got a wayfinding spirit about himselft, he’ll find his way home eventually...and uh, if I mysteriously get run over by a train in the next couple of minutes, just drop him off at a Ratso’s, he’s Derek’s problem.”

“Okay.” he nodded with his hands awkardly in his pockets, quickly bowing his head down, which made Angie want to die even faster.

She went to leave and close the door, but it was stopped by a hand, which pried it back open.

Angie turned around at the end of the front stoop, confused.

“Angie.” Will was standing there, still stoic as ever.

She didn’t say anything, she just stared at him. She was too furious, sad, mad, and confused to say anything. 

His stern face began to creep into a beautiful, nasty, sarcastic smile. 

It took her a second for the wicked smile to appear on hers. Damnit, he got her. He really, really got her.

She couldn’t believe it, “Are you messing with me right now, are you serious?”

“Angie!” he laughed, throwing up his hands like it was the most obvious thing in the entire world, “Angie, I have been in love with you for like a billion years, of course I’m messing with you!”

“You little jerk!” she bit her lip, unable to control just how attracted she was to him in this moment. Angie took the few bold setps over to where he was standing and started punching him, laughs uncontrollably escaping from both of them.

“I’m sorry!” he apologized through the laughs, “I told you I’d get you!”

“That’s ‘best-friend Will and Angie’ who mess with each other, not ‘I’m-pouring-my-heart-out-to-you Will and Angie’, you stupid, stupid man! Read the room!”

“You’re right, you’re right. I promise, my joking ways are hereby retired.” he managed to wrangle her in a hug, and looked down at her with those sweet eyes and smile that made her melt, “I could barely keep it together in there, I couldn’t even look at you or I’d get this big, dorky grin on my face like I do right now, so please forgive me.”

“Well I guess I could take back all that nice stuff I said.” she haphazardly played with the back of his hair, already addicted to how good it felt, “But then, what kind of Master of the Joking and Sarcastic Arts would I be?”

Will leaned down and finally sealed the deal with a kiss that, if you asked anyone, was a very long time in the making.

“I love you.” he said as they broke apart.

“I hate you.” she looked up at him with a big smile.

“Sarcasm?” he confirmed.

“Sarcasm.” she nodded and leaned back up to kiss him again.

**Author's Note:**

> I weirdly love this pairing so much and had a great time writing this...thanks for reading! - BKap


End file.
